Breaking Bad: The Dangerous Work of Shipbreaking

The International Labor Organization (ILO) describes hazardous work as containing the "3Ds: dirty, difficult and dangerous." Shipbreaking is a particularly dirty and dangerous occupation exploiting low wage workers in South Asia, including Bangladesh. According to the ILO, "shipbreaking has grown into a major occupational and environmental health problem in the world. It is amongst the most dangerous of occupations, with unacceptably high levels of fatalities, injuries and work-related diseases."

The NGO Shipbreaking Platform has great data on this subject. There were more than 53,000 active ships over 1,000 gross tonnage globally at end of 2019 with an average life span of 25-30 years. Approximately 1% of the global fleet is scrapped each year; mostly in South Asia (97% of all shipbreaking happens in just five countries: Bangladesh, India, Pakistan, Turkey and China). In 2019, 630 large end-of-life ships were scrapped, 446 of whom were broken and recycled on the shores of Bangladesh, India and Pakistan manually using basic tools in a process known as "beaching." 

In terms of tonnage Bangladesh was far the biggest recycler of ships as shown below (click to enlarge chart). It is estimated the shipbreaking industry directly employs 50,000 persons in Bangladesh and perhaps up to 200,000 indirectly providing an annual revenue of $1.5 billion. Shipbreaking is also a key source of steel, supplying 60%-80% of domestic demand.  

Data on injuries and fatalities are often underreported. Based on local press reports in Bangladesh, 400 workers have been killed and 6,000 seriously injured from accidents alone between 1993 and 2013. Taking into account long-term illness from exposure to toxic substances the numbers could be substantially higher. An average size ship contains up to 7 tons of asbestos which is often sold in the local communities after scrapping. Large amounts of other carcinogens and dangerous substances include PCBs, PVCs, PAHs, TBT, mercury, lead, isocyanates and sulfuric acid. According to the ILO, they not "only intoxicate workers but are also dumped into the soil and coastal waters taking an enormous toll on the surrounding environment, the local communities, fishery, agriculture, flora and fauna."

Bangladesh is a favored destination for old ships because of cheap labor and weakly enforced safety and environmental regulations. Unskilled workers, 10% of whom are children, toil 16 hours a day, seven days a week for $1-$2 dollars/ day on the open beaches of Chittagong. Because the costs of operations are so low, Bangladeshi shipbreaking companies are able to post higher bids for the scrap metal of ships compared to companies in developed countries, where shipbreaking takes place in dry docks under strict labor and safety conditions. Large shipping corporations are more than happy to knowingly send their toxic ships to be recycled in Bangladesh under dangerous conditions as long as it means more profits. Holding Western shipowners accountable can be satisfying. But greater accountability, more stringent regulations and stronger enforcement of global rules could also reduce the competitiveness of Bangladeshi shipbreakers and put at risk the livelihood of potentially thousands of Bangladeshi workers. Doing good may do some harm as well. But that's no excuse for inaction. The international community should provide greater support to Bangladeshi workers, while also offering shipowners tax credits or other incentive structures, such as environmental offsets, to send cleaner ships (removed of carcinogens) to developing countries.